User blog:TeeJay87/One Garfield Two TV Shows
Having noticed, that people on various websites compare Garfield and Friends with The Garfield Show, I've thought about writing my own thoughts about such topic. The original cartoons from 1980s and 1990s made by PAWS Inc. were part of my childhood - despite the dubbing was rather poor and the episodes were broadcasted infrequently, those shows had their charm making them pleasant to watch. So, when we got cable TV in 2008 and I found that Boomerang is broadcasting TV Show named "Garfield", I expected my favorite "Garfield and Friends" returning to daily broadcast. It turned out PAWS Inc. made new cartoon with Garfield, much different from the original one. Garfield and Friends can be described as animated comedy, similar to shows like Married with Children just with audience-friendly jokes without parental guidance ratings. Thus the cartoon is full of secondary characters appearing in various episodes. Apart from varied jokes (one of main advantages of this cartoon), some of those characters are easy to feel sympathy towards them (Penelope, Mona, Miss Kitty, Cactus Jake, Floyd, couple of other feline characters from various episodes and protagonists of U.S. Acres). I've met people, who consider humor in Garfield and Friends as too predictable after seeing part of one episode - I'm sure if they saw at least two different seasons, they'd have changed their minds. As for me - it's almost ideal cartoon for everyone. What I like most in The Garfield Show is comeback of Arlene, who had only cameo appearances in older cartoon. However, this show lacks much from Garfield and Friends: - being myself child of 1990s, I'm not that accustomed to cartoons made in computer animation - they remind me video games for Playstation with their digital look. It's not a serious flaw, but it can be disturbing a bit; - in my opinion, lowered level of jokes in TGS when compared to G&F is much more severe drawback - when you watch both cartoons, you may feel an impression about TGS that "All those gags have already been seen"; it's a bit like watching the same object painted by two different artists; - TGS isn't keeping standards inside the series - while in G&F there aren't many bad episodes (in my opinion), most of those from TGS are at best mediocre. Sure, there are couple of episodes pleasant in watching (not as much as G&F, but still enjoyable), but those are maybe 25% from all the five seasons - more common are those I'd simply call "cliched", as if they had been made in hurry; - there's not much logical continuity between both cartoons - sure, some characters from G&F are mentioned in TGS (Binky the Clown for example), but those are rare cases; - last but not least, secondary characters in TGS aren't match for those from G&F. Apart from mentioned above Arlene, those new characters are either cliched from older cartoon (Bruno after Brick and Bonzo, Mindy supposed to replace Penny) or were created especially for the new show (Harry, Aunt Ivy or Drusilla & Minerva). Not to mention amount of character recolors appearing in TGS (Nererkitty being recolor of Arlene, apart from recolors seen in It's Cats World episode) I find as lowering quality of cartoon. Some of those recolors even look quite suspicious (see my older blog entry http://garfield.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:TeeJay87/Kitty_Not_Equalling_Kitty ). Honestly, I miss characters from G&F. The mentioned above drawbacks of The Garfield Show aren't making it worthy successor for Garfield and Friends. At least in my opinion. As a person familiar with both cartoons, I have to admit it's difficult to compare two cartoons, which only share the same basic characters (Garfield, Odie, Nermal and Jon) and setting. While watching The Garfield Show, I feel that the creators haven't used all the possible ideas they could've put there. If I were to judge both cartoons, I'd give Garfield and Friends 9.5/10 note, while The Garfield Show would get 7/10 due to aforesaid drawbacks. Those, who don't mind lowered level of humor and cliched characters, let they feel free to add one or two more points to my note. Myself, I believe it's honest rating - if I had my own offspring, I'd rather present them The Garfield Show than most of cartoons currently broadcast on CN or Nickelodeon. Category:Blog posts